Weekly Influenza Hospitalization Counts by New York County

Weekly aggregate counts track persons hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza in New York State, starting with the 2020-21 season. The dataset is maintained by health.data.ny.gov to provide timely surveillance information for the current flu season, with historical data available for trend comparison. Data is updated regularly, with a last recorded update in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Model weekly hospitalization 'Count' trends using 'Week Ending Date' and 'Season' for outbreak forecasting.
• Analyze geographic disparities in flu burden by comparing 'Count' across 'County' and 'Region'.
• Assess age-specific hospitalization risk by stratifying 'Count' data by the 'Age Group' column.
• Validate public health interventions by tracking 'Count' changes over 'CDC Week' across multiple seasons.

Strengths

• Data includes laboratory-confirmed cases, increasing reliability for surveillance.
• Provides historical data for trend comparison across multiple influenza seasons.
• Geographic granularity down to the county level via the 'County' column.

Limitations

• Sample size and total row count are unknown, limiting statistical power assessment.
• Data is specific to New York State, limiting generalizability to other regions.
• The dataset begins in October 2020, lacking pre-pandemic seasonal baselines for comparison.

Provenance

Source

health.data.ny.gov

Collection Method

Aggregated counts from surveillance of laboratory-confirmed influenza hospitalizations.

Time Range

Beginning October 2020 onward.

Freshness

Updated regularly; last update recorded as April 2026.

Geography

New York State, United States, by county.